This paper examines Peter Vaill's 1996 book Learning as a Way of Being: Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent White Water, focusing on its implications for business professionals, adult educators, and human resource leaders. The paper argues that traditional education fosters a fixed endpoint to learning, which leaves businesspeople ill-equipped for a rapidly changing environment shaped by technology and global competition. It explores Vaill's concept of continuous, immersive learning, contrasts self-directed and non-self-directed learners, and considers practical applications of Vaill's ideas for both adult learning instructors and organizational leaders seeking to cultivate lifelong learning cultures.
In his book Learning as a Way of Being: Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent White Water, Peter Vaill discusses many pressing business issues. Much of what he addresses details leaders and managers, as well as their engagement with skills, situations, and new information (Vaill, 1996). Surviving in the business world might seem like something that can easily be taught in schools, but the reality is that this is no longer entirely the case. The way the business world operates today requires different skill sets than what traditional schooling readily provides, since the Internet has so fundamentally changed how many businesses define and conduct their operations.
When schools teach future businesspeople using the same methods they have relied on in the past, they promote an environment that implies learning stops once formal education ends. That is unfortunate, because learning must continue throughout life rather than concluding when schooling is finished. When businesspeople decide they have nothing left to learn, their businesses suffer — society and technology continue to advance while those businesses do not. This is naturally a significant concern when businesses find themselves falling behind. However, if leaders are unsure why it is happening, or have been so conditioned that they believe there is nothing left to learn, even recognizing the problem will not be enough to correct it.
Learning is a habit, and it must be cultivated and sustained if it is to grow and prosper (Vaill, 1996). It must also be practiced not just at home but on the job, or it will not help the businessperson when real problems arise (Vaill, 1996). One of the most important insights in Vaill's book is that he sees learning as a way of being — not something done only in certain places at certain times, such as school. By framing learning this way, Vaill reveals that there is considerable creativity and originality in many people; it only requires the right understanding of the learning environment to be unlocked (Vaill, 1996). This insight is largely the key to the book and the foundation of Vaill's seven steps to learning while being. It is very difficult for people raised on traditional, standardized approaches to adapt to new ideas, but Vaill's book offers a meaningful first step toward understanding what is needed to succeed.
The ideas in the book are compelling, and when approached with an open mind, their merit becomes readily apparent. Vaill's conception of learning as a continuous process is both valid and important for most people in business today — and yet it is also something most people find genuinely difficult to practice. This does not mean they fail to understand that learning matters, but rather that they have become so conditioned by traditional models that they can no longer think as openly as they once did. Traditional education does not equip people to maintain the open-mindedness required for continuous learning, and so many remain fixed in the belief that having completed school means they already know what is necessary.
Others in the business world are very open to learning new things but are unsure how to do so, and assume that conferences and other scheduled events are the only avenues available to them. While such scheduled events are valuable, there are many other ways to learn. What Vaill most strongly conveys is that learning is a continual process — not merely something to do every day, but something to pursue in every moment. Most people do not think this way, but Vaill's book encourages businesspeople to orient themselves toward learning and to keep their eyes and ears open for new experiences at all times, so that nothing of potential value is missed.
As a self-directed learner, there are many parallels between that style of learning and what Vaill describes in his book. Self-directed learners are interested in learning about as much as they can, in whatever ways are available, and they take it upon themselves to seek out places and people that can advance their quest for knowledge. Because they are self-directed, they tend to be more open-minded about how and where learning can take place.
They hold fundamentally different beliefs about learning than those who are not self-directed and only learn what is required of them through coursework and similar structures. People who learn only in that way are not self-directed — they are directed by the goals and plans of others. Put simply, self-directed learners learn because they want to, while non-self-directed learners learn because they have to. This distinction may seem minor in the context of formal schooling, but it becomes critically important when it comes to learning that occurs outside the classroom. It is most visible in how much genuine interest a businessperson has in acquiring new knowledge about technology, skills, and other issues relevant to their business and society. Some of this learning also involves understanding a business's customers, which is one of the most vital areas of knowledge for any business's continued success.
The ideas in the book must be put to practical use in order to be effective. There are several ways this can be done, depending on whether one approaches these ideas from the perspective of an adult learning instructor or from the perspective of a human resource professional or other organizational leader. Both roles, and how the book can be applied within them, deserve attention, as both are important for the future of individuals entering the business world.
"How adult educators can implement continuous learning"
"Lessons gained from observing colleagues and situations"
"HR leaders fostering self-directed organizational learning"
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